The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
That's kind of the key fault line.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
This conspiracy theory, I think, really got going a week or two after Charlie Kirk's death when she started saying, well, you know, the donors, the pro-Israel donors to Turning Point were getting really mad at him.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
Charlie was about to flip and become more critical of Israel.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
And, I mean, a lot of those text messages were authenticated by Turning Point.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
They said, yes, you know, he was saying essentially these Jewish donors are โ
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
They're alienating people.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
I'm getting fed up with them because they're so demanding.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
They demand this kind of total fealty to Israel and support.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
They don't want any criticism.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
And so I think that that really got a lot of it going.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
And so that is sort of the fault line there.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
Yeah.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
Yeah, I mean, I think she's really, really popular outside of not just kind of like hardcore online politics people.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
But I mean, you know, she got really into like celebrity gossip, the Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni lawsuit.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
So I think she's expanded her audience beyond sort of a typical talk radio Ben Shapiro world.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
And, you know, look, I mean, you can look at her metrics on YouTube, which I'm not saying are, you know, down to the view count accurate.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
But each video she's hitting two, three, four million views.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
She's all over TikTok, Instagram.
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
And, you know, I mentioned these videos of people saying, you know, is Candace going to make it out alive?
The Bulwark Podcast
Will Sommer: Conspiracy Theorists Are Behind the Wheel in the Republican Party
These do not seem to be like lunatics.